Friday, 4 November 2011

It is well known that Leonardo Da Vinci became interested in the "golden ratio" or "divine proportion". It is somewhat less well known is he learnt about the number from Lucca Pacioli, the Francisican friar and grandfather of accounting. What is virtually unknown is that Pacioli probably learnt his mathematics from the financial mathematician and artist, Piero della Francesca (as an artist).

I have written an article, Decoding Da Vinci: Finance, functions and art, on this for plus! an on-line magazine aimed at youngster. The piece explains why the ratio was considered divine because of its form as a continued fraction, and how another financial mathematician laid the foundations for functional analysis by popularising decimal notation.

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About Me

I am a Lecturer in Financial Mathematics at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. Heriot-Watt was the first UK university to offer degrees in Actuarial Science and Financial Mathematics and is a leading UK research centre in the fields.

Between 2006-2011 I was the UK Research Council's Academic Fellow in Financial Mathematics and was involved in informing policy makers of mathematical aspects of the Credit Crisis.